


Struck by You

by cowboycruncher



Series: Nexitus Collection [3]
Category: Original Work, Valdonia: Realm of Mages
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Cohald Era, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:54:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27812620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cowboycruncher/pseuds/cowboycruncher
Summary: “I can’t just kiss you because I want to?”
Relationships: Praxitus Calciphorum/Nelles Penet
Series: Nexitus Collection [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934908
Kudos: 1





	Struck by You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Noah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noah/gifts).



All things considered, Praxitus did not necessarily feel the desire to show off when it came to training - but he was very aware at this particular moment that he was being watched, and by whom, he was not quite sure of yet. The dummy before him lay sizzling, scorched beyond repair, and he was ready to deliver the final blow to it. Whoever was standing in his blind spot had better not get in the way between now and when he intended to deliver it, for once lightning left his fingertips, there was no controlling it. At least, not yet. It was something he was working on. 

Taking deep footsteps backwards, he pointed his fingers at the clouds - the only light coming through the open roof being from the shining, brilliant moon above - using the kinetic pull to harness the energy of the gods and bring it to his grasp. The more he dealt with lightning, the worse his hands had begun to shake over time, but such a fact was something he kept heavily under wraps - even from Nelles, arguably the man who he considered to be his best friend. There was a certain thrill in knowing that Nelles did not know everything about him, too, but that was just his selfish tendencies arguing with his more logical perspective.

It came then - the lightning - stretched down with a furious scream of a crackle, and it bled into his fingers, verberating up his arm. An almost evil amount of power filled his chest, pure excitement, _raw adrenaline_ , he could not contain the ear splitting grin upon his face as his flesh became alight with Vath’s electricity. It always cut off his breathing - or, maybe, he did that himself, too focused on what he could achieve when he had god’s wrath under his hands like this. 

Launching himself forward now, he extended his arm at the poor, inanimate dummy that was still smoking from his earlier efforts and spewed his lightning at the object. The sound it made upon collision filled the room, torching the remnants of the object into a heap on the floor. When it was over, all the light seemed to have been sucked out of the training grounds while Praxitus’ eyes readjusted to the sudden lack of aggressive blue. Now that he could breathe again, his chest rose and fell rapidly, his arms and legs shaking - vibrating - from his efforts. Finally, he turned around to view the person that had been watching him through this interaction, and to his somewhat unexpected surprise, Nelles Penet stood before him. The man he had been analyzing within his mind just a few short moments beforehand. Praxitus crossed his arms, leaning back on his hips as he stared at his friend, waiting for him to speak first. 

Nelles had no emotion on his face, and yet, he looked upset. “Why?”

  
“Why what?” Praxitus demanded, unhappy with such lacking conversation material.

“Why do you feel like it’s necessary to do that? Aren’t you powerful enough with your fire?”

“It’s never enough.” Praxitus spat back out. Nelles looked down at his feet. Things had changed between them, that he knew and that he had accepted. But Nelles always did this thing where he clearly had something on his mind, but refused to say what it was. Praxitus sighed at that, and picked up his shirt from where it lay motionless beside him. It had stained with his sweat, and just like so many of his other garments, it was charred at the ends now, just like him; he ignored - or tried to, at least - the shaking of his hands, the tingling numbness in his joints and the screaming upon his skin where the electricity had mercilessly danced across his host.

Balling it up, he stomped his way up to Nelles and wrapped the shirt around the back of his neck, allowing for him to pull the air mage in close to his person. Stumbling and sputtering, Nelles’ hands found purchase against his chest before he could manage words with enough conviction to actually use them against the sheer wit that Praxitus dragged around with him on a seemingly daily basis. “What are you doing?” 

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Being an idiot.” 

Praxitus raised his eyebrow at him, and Nelles could not help but roll his eyes at him. The energy radiating off of the fire mage was permeable in the space around him, just from the minimal touch to his abdomen, Nelles could feel the aftershocks of the lightning zipping and zapping underneath of Praxitus’ skin. “Sorry, you always look like an idiot. Moreso than usual, then,” he added while attempting to pull away, but found that he was unable to. 

“Why do you still act like my magic is going to hurt you? I thought we were past this.”

“Why do you act like we’re still friends? I thought we were past this.”

Praxitus narrowed his eyes at him, but he sighed a moment later and placed his shirt over his shoulder instead of using it to cage Nelles in.

“We are still friends,” he said finally, when he could meet Nelles’ gaze again. “But you want me to be something I’m not. And you need to understand that.” He turned as if to end the conversation, but Nelles refused to let him get away with the things he used to before they had - whatever it was that they had now. No, instead he grabbed him by his arm and pulled him back to where they had been just a moment before. Without giving him time to bark out some snippy comment, he leaned in and pressed their lips together.

Praxitus made an “mmph” sound, but immediately brought both his hands to hold either side of Nelles’ neck, bringing him close. Moulding Praxitus had been a difficult task for Nelles, but just like this - when nothing else was on his mind, when the tension seeped from his shoulders, and he was the boy that Nelles loved with nothing to turn him into the monster that so many others viewed him as, that was when he got to see the side of him that he could nurture; he smiled at him when he pulled away and brushed a few strands of Praxitus’ dark hair away from his face.

Praxitus still blushed when he received attention like this - he cleared his throat and let his hands fall down to his own hips like he had before. “What was that for?”

“I can’t just kiss you because I want to?”

“No! I mean, yes, you can, but-” Nelles cut him off with another kiss that effectively shut him up.

“If I say you win, can we go back to the dorm? I really want to go to bed.”

“Yes, yeah- yup- uh-” Praxitus reached for his hand and interlaced their fingers together, allowing their shoulders brush as he took the lead toward the large doors of the training grounds.

**Author's Note:**

> Want to learn more about the universe where these characters are from? Check out the Discord server - to join, just shoot me a message @ cowboycruncher#7497.


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